Coal stocks/ETFs rally on Romney support

Shares of coal company stocks shot higher Thursday, following the U.S. presidential debate where candidate Mitt Romney expressed his support for the coal industry. Romney, former head of Bain Capital, said, “By the way, I like coal. I’m going to make sure we can continue to burn clean coal.”

He went on to say to President Barack Obama, “People in the coal industry feel like its getting crushed by your policies.” A Stern Agee analyst commented, “It’s amazing what 15 words about coal in a presidential debate can do for the stocks. These stocks have been volatile, but you can’t discount what a man running for president said about coal. Call it the Romney rally.”

Arch Coal, which one Wall Street analyst notes has more leverage than most in the domestic thermal coal market, was the biggest gainer of the day, with peers Alpha Natural Resources (ANR), Peabody Energy (BTU) and Consol Energy (CNX) also taking part in the rally.